Total No of Rhinos slaughtered in South Africa to Dec 31st 2017 = 1028. Official figures. Read my blog below for Headlines from around the World concerning the Global Catastrophe that is causing the biggest mass extinction since the Permian Period, and News of the fight to stop the slaughter of the Planet's Wildlife before it is too late.

Nature Explored

Friday, 30 May 2014

Poaching and other types of illegal trade in wildlife are set to top
the agenda at the first ever United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA)
to be held in Nairobi in June.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim
Steiner said they are planning to table a report on the growing trade
and the threat it poses at the meeting.

"This is not a small thing. The threat it poses is not to be
underestimated," he reiterated, "because we are confronted with a battle
that we're not winning."

And while Steiner admitted that there remains an absence of empirical
evidence directly linking poaching to terrorism, he maintained that it
did not negate the very real possibility that one fed the other.
Kenya's Permanent Representative to UNEP Martin Kimani said "Elephant
and rhino poaching are something the government is fighting day and
night to eradicate so we're happy to put our heads together with the
rest of the world and host this very important conversation,"

Steiner said that the meeting would inject some much needed impetus
into the fight. The subject will be raised at the highest levels with
over 100 government representatives expected at the UNEA meeting between
June 23 and 27.

"We need to address the consumer end because there will be no point
to poaching if there is no market for the trophies. And with China being
one of the biggest consumers of ivory we're already holding exhibitions
there, in train stations and elsewhere, to sensitise the public on the
high price there is to pay for that trophy, that mythical cure," he
said.

Saturday, 24 May 2014

A national taskforce has been established by the Ethiopian Wild Life
Conservative Authority (EWCA) in collaboration with Population, Health
and Environment Ethiopia Consortium (PHEEC), to safeguard protected
natural environments and wildlife.

The taskforce will take corrective measures up on receiving reports
about violations of conservation and management rules. It will also
mobilize technical and financial resources necessary for effective park
management and monitor the effectiveness of the regional level
taskforces at implementing proposed action plans.

Thursday, 15 May 2014

It was only a matter of time before poachers would decide to move in
on South Africa's large elephant population. This comes only days after
Envoronment Minister Edna Molewa said there was no ivory poaching
problem in South Africa.

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Cameroon said its soldiers have shot and killed five
suspected poachers who had been killing elephants in the West Africa
country. The military said some of those killed were Janjaweed
militiamen from Sudan.
The heavily armed poachers were caught operating in the Waza National Park.

A spokesperson for Cameroon's military, Colonel Didier Badjeck, said
soldiers who have been patrolling to protect the wildlife responded, and
in the ensuing gun battle, five of the poachers were killed.

He said the rapid intervention battalion of the Cameroon army had
been deployed in the park with expert shooters and logistics. To aid
them, air and land patrols were organized. Ten horses, more than 2,000
bullets and 88 elephant tusks were seized and handed to the Ministry of
Forestry and Wildlife.
More than 1,000 elephants live in the park, which located in far northern Cameroon, near borders with Nigeria and Chad.

Last year, 100 elephants were killed in Cameroon, an improvement over
2012 when 300 of the animals were felled by poachers' bullets.

Thursday, 8 May 2014

Addressing a crowd at a ceremony to sign an anti-poaching agreement
between South Africa and Mozambique in the Kruger National Park earlier
this month, Edna Molewa, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs,
mentioned in a speech signifying her departments move toward a possible
trade in rhino horn, that “we do think that it could (win the war on
rhino poaching)… just taking it from the lessons we have learnt from
ivory. We did an ivory once-off sale and elephant poaching has not been a
problem since.”

Technically this statement isn't a crime but it damn well ought to be.

China, a notorious source of demand for a massive illegal wildlife
trade, is stepping up its game to save wildlife with a massive $100
million donation to combat poaching in Africa. The Chinese Premier, Li
Keqiang, has pledged $100 million to combat poaching in Africa during a
visit to the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The funds will surely be helpful to curb supply of wildlife products
in Africa, but meanwhile campaigns are working to stem demand from
Chinese consumers, who value exotic animal products in traditional
medicine and ivory ornaments.